This is Harry Fine's personal blog containing his comments on current Ontario legal issues and the current state, complexities and absurdities of landlord and tenant law in Ontario. Harry is a paralegal with over 15 years practicing landlord and tenant, Small Claims and Human Rights law and is a former member of the Landlord and Tenant Board. The comments in this blog do not constitute legal advice.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I hope you read the previous post (3 below) and read the Toronto Sun column written by Michele Mandel. She did a great job exposing a predator. This evening at about 7:30 pm, the police pulled the tenant, her son and dogs out of the unit as she wouldn't leave after the Sheriff enforced the order. Once the Landlord and Tenant Board eviction order is enforced by the Sheriff, an over-holding occupant becomes a trespasser.

Ms. Amere (plus the other 5 names she went by) was nothing if not predictable. She lied and cheated to the end, trying to tell the officers she had a right to remain despite the Board order. In addition to the original damage done to the unit which precipitated the action at the Landlord and Tenant Board, there was feces and vomit everywhere. The unit is infested. There is likely $20,000 worth of damage.

I'm suggesting to my client that they consider pursuing criminal charges against their former tenant. Most landlord and tenant issues are dealt with as civil matters, and damages dealt with by way of monetary compensation. However there is sometimes a fuzzy line between civil and criminal, and there was a recent case in the Havelock area where the Crown saw fit to charge a tenant criminally with causing injury to property. The tenant pleaded guilty, a conviction was registered and a sentence imposed of two years on probation. Here's a link to the article:

If there was ever a case where fraud and criminal property offences have occurred in a tenancy context, the Bently Driving Persian Princess was it. These first time landlords, heavily mortgaged, lost tens of thousands of dollars. This will of course end their adventure into real estate investing.